This work is not a mere compilation, or republication of anecdote. It will be found to contain much original matter, and much of the most interesting and instructive portions of the history of art. For a list of authorities, the reader is referred to the author's Dictionary of Painters, etc., and for a convenient reference, to the Index at the end of vol. iii. The author has studied his subject con amore, for many years, and has gathered abundant materials for three more volumes, should these be favorably received. But he fears lest in these romance-loving days, the recital of the trials, misfortunes, achievements and exaltations of those men of genius and fine sensibilities, to whom the world is indebted for the creation and development of the most beautiful arts, will fail to arrest the attention or move the heart.
Although it does not become a man to prate of himself, yet the author trusts he will be pardoned when he speaks of his labors and their object. For a long period, his labors have been directed to the great object of the restoration and publication of Napoleon's magnificent works, the
